6 ms·

Why all this tech effort when simple authority and transparency will do? Build a multi-compartment lucite / acrylic (clear) box, where each slot can hold 1 phon

Why all this tech effort when simple authority and transparency will do? Build a multi-compartment lucite / acrylic (clear) box, where each slot can hold 1 phone. Students enter and turn off phone notifications, put in a cubby, then take their seat. Retrieve phone at end of class. In certain circumstances - pending family news perhaps - a student might ask and be permitted to keep their phone on their person. If there's other unexpected family emergencies, contact the school, not the student directly. The expectation of being able to bypass the school isn't a fair one to me. As an occasional educator, I'm quite fond of the "beacuse I said so and I'm paid to tell you what to do" philosophy of having a little leeway with maintaining authority for a group of 10-30 pupils. Behavior doesn't always improve with age. Certain strategies exist for a reason.

DanBC 10y ago
The head teacher is talking about bullying happening on social media which is interfering with student's school life. > Ms Poley said: “Ultimately, all students need to be able to come into school feeling supported and safe and be able to concentrate on the next 13 weeks of study and revision. > “I will take much stronger exclusion action on any further unnecessary ‘social’ fall-outs which impact on school life and ask you to support us by monitoring mobile phone usage at home. (Edit: I didn't downvote you.)
aianus 10y ago
Why shouldn't students be allowed to use their phones during class? In college we all had laptops in front of us in every lecture and it didn't stop us from learning.
- celticninja 10y ago
  Because younger children are less disciplined and perhaps not as aware of the harm they are causing themselves by playing candy crush in their maths lesson. In college you are 18+, mature enough to make your own decisions, at 11 - 17 most (not all) are unable to do this. Why do you need a phone in school anyway? Why do you need twitter or facebook or candycrush so immediately? Yes in an emergency they would be useful, but lets be honest many people survived their schooldays with a mobile phone so I am not sure why you feel that a 12year old must have a mobile phone with them at all times.
  - RugnirViking 10y ago
    The article mentions this is a college
    - celticninja 10y ago
      In the UK college is for 16-18 year olds, university in the UK is the equivalent of a IS college.
  - murkle 10y ago
    In UK, "6th form college" = 16-18 year olds
    - celticninja 10y ago
      Yes, with most being under 18 and those who are 18 are almost finished in college and will leave for employment or university.
- dagw 10y ago
  College is fundamentally different. First of all you're a lot older and more mature and secondly you're there (both in that class and in school in general) because you want to be. Also in many cases you're actually paying to be there (if nothing else with opportunity cost). That gives you entirely different incentives to learn. Finally there is no consensus about whether or not laptops in lectures help or hinder learning.
- JoeAltmaier 10y ago
  There's no such thing as 'multitasking'. Its just 'not paying attention'. I'd bet dollars to donuts it did stop/impair learning, drastically. To claim otherwise will require some citation?
- rwmj 10y ago
  Personally I'm really glad we didn't have phones or laptops at university, or else I'd probably never have learned anything in lectures.
- vr46 10y ago
  Part-time university lecturer here. If I could ban phones from my classes, I would. They are distracting, rude and affect concentration like you would expect. I introduced my students to pomodoros for practical work (phones upside-down, on silent, and only music without singing allowed on headphones) and the results were fabulous. This was not a scientific study, but results are result.
kitd 10y ago
Most of the teachers at my daughters' school do this, or at least they use a cardboard box on the desk at the front. All phones in there at the start, pick them up on the way out. Anyone caught taking a sneaky peak at a phone in class gets detention.
- dougherty 10y ago
  My wife is a teacher, and they are not allowed to take students' phones during class, as the school then would be responsible for the phones; "where is my iPhone, I put it in the box?", "my phone is scratched, it was fine when I gave it to you", the list goes on...
  - dpark 10y ago
    Yeah, the liability there seems too much. It seems like this would be pretty easy to enforce other ways, though. Use your phone in class? Immediate detention. Suspension if it's happening repeatedly. Alternatively, immediate confiscation. Goes into a padded envelope and waits for a parent to claim it.
  - Balgair 10y ago
    Wife is also a teacher. In addition to the issues with liability, there is also the exhaustion aspect. With 7 classes a day of 37 students on average, trying to take away the phones becomes more effort than it is worth. It takes, say, 2 minutes per person to take away the phone and give it back at the end of class. Say we have 10 students, about 1 out of 3 students, that have this issue with attention (likely a low estimate). That's 20 minutes out of the 50 she has per class. There is a 5 minute passing period. You also have to attend to the other 36 students while the phone surrendering process takes place. You can change those number how you'd like, but trying to do this everyday, 7 times a day becomes, 5 days a week ... it becomes pointless. They talk back, as teenagers do, they start fights with teachers, they refuse to admit they have a phone, etc. The hassle of trying to get the phone out of their hands is useless. Effectively, you are forced to triage those individuals and focus on the students that want to learn. And yes, the school is supposed to take the phones from the students that have proven themselves to be untrustworthy at the beginning of the day. This rarely occurs as 2000 students stream into their classrooms (you hope) about 5 minutes before the bell. You can call the front office to come in and take the phones away during first period, but they are usually busy with other aspects of running the school (truancy, regular discipline issues, legal drug administration, illegal drug confiscation, planning meetings, grading, etc). If the kind is on a phone, that is less of a priority than fights and other regular school discipline issues, so it gets left behind.
logfromblammo 10y ago
I have seen hanging behind-the-closet-door shoe organizers used for this purpose. You don't have to build anything. You can get 24 clear plastic pockets for $12.
- dpark 10y ago
  Seems like a good way to get your phone stolen. I wouldn't be comfortable leaving my cell phone like that.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]

DanBC 10y ago

The head teacher is talking about bullying happening on social media which is interfering with student's school life. > Ms Poley said: “Ultimately, all students need to be able to come into school feeling supported and safe and be able to concentrate on the next 13 weeks of study and revision. > “I will take much stronger exclusion action on any further unnecessary ‘social’ fall-outs which impact on school life and ask you to support us by monitoring mobile phone usage at home. (Edit: I didn't downvote you.)

aianus 10y ago

Why shouldn't students be allowed to use their phones during class? In college we all had laptops in front of us in every lecture and it didn't stop us from learning.

celticninja 10y ago
Because younger children are less disciplined and perhaps not as aware of the harm they are causing themselves by playing candy crush in their maths lesson. In college you are 18+, mature enough to make your own decisions, at 11 - 17 most (not all) are unable to do this. Why do you need a phone in school anyway? Why do you need twitter or facebook or candycrush so immediately? Yes in an emergency they would be useful, but lets be honest many people survived their schooldays with a mobile phone so I am not sure why you feel that a 12year old must have a mobile phone with them at all times.
- RugnirViking 10y ago
  The article mentions this is a college
  - celticninja 10y ago
    In the UK college is for 16-18 year olds, university in the UK is the equivalent of a IS college.
- murkle 10y ago
  In UK, "6th form college" = 16-18 year olds
  - celticninja 10y ago
    Yes, with most being under 18 and those who are 18 are almost finished in college and will leave for employment or university.
dagw 10y ago
College is fundamentally different. First of all you're a lot older and more mature and secondly you're there (both in that class and in school in general) because you want to be. Also in many cases you're actually paying to be there (if nothing else with opportunity cost). That gives you entirely different incentives to learn. Finally there is no consensus about whether or not laptops in lectures help or hinder learning.
JoeAltmaier 10y ago
There's no such thing as 'multitasking'. Its just 'not paying attention'. I'd bet dollars to donuts it did stop/impair learning, drastically. To claim otherwise will require some citation?
rwmj 10y ago
Personally I'm really glad we didn't have phones or laptops at university, or else I'd probably never have learned anything in lectures.
vr46 10y ago
Part-time university lecturer here. If I could ban phones from my classes, I would. They are distracting, rude and affect concentration like you would expect. I introduced my students to pomodoros for practical work (phones upside-down, on silent, and only music without singing allowed on headphones) and the results were fabulous. This was not a scientific study, but results are result.

kitd 10y ago

Most of the teachers at my daughters' school do this, or at least they use a cardboard box on the desk at the front. All phones in there at the start, pick them up on the way out. Anyone caught taking a sneaky peak at a phone in class gets detention.

dougherty 10y ago
My wife is a teacher, and they are not allowed to take students' phones during class, as the school then would be responsible for the phones; "where is my iPhone, I put it in the box?", "my phone is scratched, it was fine when I gave it to you", the list goes on...
- dpark 10y ago
  Yeah, the liability there seems too much. It seems like this would be pretty easy to enforce other ways, though. Use your phone in class? Immediate detention. Suspension if it's happening repeatedly. Alternatively, immediate confiscation. Goes into a padded envelope and waits for a parent to claim it.
- Balgair 10y ago
  Wife is also a teacher. In addition to the issues with liability, there is also the exhaustion aspect. With 7 classes a day of 37 students on average, trying to take away the phones becomes more effort than it is worth. It takes, say, 2 minutes per person to take away the phone and give it back at the end of class. Say we have 10 students, about 1 out of 3 students, that have this issue with attention (likely a low estimate). That's 20 minutes out of the 50 she has per class. There is a 5 minute passing period. You also have to attend to the other 36 students while the phone surrendering process takes place. You can change those number how you'd like, but trying to do this everyday, 7 times a day becomes, 5 days a week ... it becomes pointless. They talk back, as teenagers do, they start fights with teachers, they refuse to admit they have a phone, etc. The hassle of trying to get the phone out of their hands is useless. Effectively, you are forced to triage those individuals and focus on the students that want to learn. And yes, the school is supposed to take the phones from the students that have proven themselves to be untrustworthy at the beginning of the day. This rarely occurs as 2000 students stream into their classrooms (you hope) about 5 minutes before the bell. You can call the front office to come in and take the phones away during first period, but they are usually busy with other aspects of running the school (truancy, regular discipline issues, legal drug administration, illegal drug confiscation, planning meetings, grading, etc). If the kind is on a phone, that is less of a priority than fights and other regular school discipline issues, so it gets left behind.

logfromblammo 10y ago

I have seen hanging behind-the-closet-door shoe organizers used for this purpose. You don't have to build anything. You can get 24 clear plastic pockets for $12.

dpark 10y ago
Seems like a good way to get your phone stolen. I wouldn't be comfortable leaving my cell phone like that.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]